"M-monster…" she whispered, eyes wide with disbelief. "He… it's terrifying!"
Luna, gripping the wheel, could only stare in awe. "When… when did Spawn become this strong? He's unstoppable…"
She had seen the skeleton before, but never like this. This wasn't just a summon—it was a nightmare given form.
Within minutes, the dozens of zombies around the dormitory were reduced to twitching corpses. Spawn alone had cleaved through more than twenty. The rest fell under Ethan and Luke's blades, their skulls split with grim efficiency.
The battlefield was silent, save for the groans of the dying. Coins shimmered faintly where bodies dissolved, along with a single glowing fruit—an Apple of Vitality.
Ethan picked it up quickly, eyes narrowing. Another piece for their survival.
---
"Luke, stay here and guard the bus. If anything approaches, shout."
Luke nodded firmly, tightening his grip on his weapon.
Ethan turned to his skeletal servant, still dripping with blood. "Spawn, with me."
Together, man and summon pushed into the dormitory, climbing the stairwell at a rapid pace. Ethan's mind was already calculating—the survivors were waiting, but so were more zombies. He'd have to move quickly, decisively, and without hesitation.
—
Inside a dorm room on the 4th floor, a barricade of overturned desks, broken chairs, and stacked furniture pressed tightly against the door. The room smelled faintly of sweat and desperation. Four young women huddled together on a single bed, their once-radiant faces now pale from hunger, fatigue, and endless fear. Their makeup had long faded, their clothes wrinkled, yet their youthful beauty still shone stubbornly beneath the exhaustion, like fragile flowers surviving in a wasteland.
The silence in the room was suffocating. None dared speak too loudly. They had learned quickly: noise meant death. The zombies lurking in the corridors could detect even the faintest sound, and then… the pounding on the door would begin.
Finally, a whisper broke the silence. Ariel, a slim girl with soft chestnut hair, clutched her stomach and asked weakly, "Daisy… I'm hungry. Do we have anything left to eat?"
Daisy, whose sharp eyes betrayed her leadership despite her tired face, forced a wry smile. "That last piece of chocolate? We split it this morning. There's nothing left."
At her words, the air grew heavier. Jessica, petite but fiery, suddenly blurted out, her voice trembling, "Daisy… are you saying we're going to die here?"
Fear hung in her words, pressing down on all of them. The hopelessness had been gnawing for days.
Daisy clenched her fists and forced herself to smile for the others. "No. We won't die. Someone will save us. Remember? Ethan promised. Maybe he's out there right now. We just have to believe."
Though she spoke bravely, inside Daisy felt the icy chill of doubt. In a world like this, who would risk everything to rescue four trapped girls? And yet, she knew that if she let despair show, the others would collapse completely.
Suddenly, Nina—the most striking of the group—sat up straighter. Her long, jet-black hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall, her large eyes shimmering even through tears. With her tall, curvy figure and proud demeanor, she had once been the jewel of the Music Department, admired by many, untouchable like a swan gliding above the water. But hunger and fear had softened her pride.
"If someone saves me," she whispered, her lips trembling, "I'll be his girlfriend. I don't care who it is."
The other girls looked at her in shock. This was Nina, the one who had turned down dozens of suitors with a cold smile.
Daisy let out a quiet laugh, teasing to break the tension. "To think, the Swan Princess herself offering to be someone's girlfriend. Whoever rescues us will be the luckiest man alive."
"Heh," Jessica giggled weakly. "Didn't you always say you didn't want a boyfriend in college? That you wanted to focus only on your career?"
For a moment, their fear faded into soft laughter, a fragile ember of normalcy in the darkness.
But then—
BANG.
The door shook violently as something slammed against it from outside. The barricade rattled. Dust fell from the ceiling.
All four froze, their laughter strangled in their throats. Their wide eyes turned toward the trembling door.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
The sound of rotten fists pounding, claws scraping. The zombies had found them again.
Ariel whimpered and fell to the floor, her body trembling uncontrollably. Jessica covered her mouth with her hands to stifle a scream. Nina's proud eyes filled with tears, and Daisy, gritting her teeth, tried to stay strong, though her heart hammered like a war drum.
If the door fell… they would be devoured alive.
Then, suddenly—
The pounding stopped.
The silence that followed was even more terrifying. The girls didn't dare breathe, staring at the door as though it might explode inward at any moment.
Then came another sound.
A low, heavy rumble, vibrating through the walls. An engine. A vehicle.
The girls froze, straining their ears. And then— a school bus sound blared outside the dormitory.
Their hearts leapt.
"It's… it's people! Someone came!" Ariel gasped, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Daisy rushed to the bathroom window, peeking through the cracked blinds. When she saw the bus barreling into the campus courtyard, her vision blurred. Through the dirty glass, she spotted a familiar figure standing tall among the survivors.
"It's Ethan!" she cried out, sobbing now. "He came back! He really came back for us!"
Nina collapsed to her knees, clutching her chest, her proud mask shattering into pure relief. "God… we're saved. We're actually saved!"
Jessica and Ariel clung to each other, crying in joy. For days they had starved, hopeless. And now, against all odds, salvation had come.
But the nightmare was not over.
CRACK.
The barricade shuddered.
BOOM.
The door burst inward, furniture tumbling aside like toys.
A massive shadow loomed in the doorway.
Two meters tall. Muscles bulging like steel cables beneath rotten, blackened skin. Its face twisted with sores, teeth jagged, eyes glowing faintly with little intelligence. Unlike normal zombies, its gaze locked directly onto the girls.
A P1 Zombie.
An evolved monster.
The air turned ice-cold.
The girls' blood ran cold. Daisy dropped the metal pail she had picked up in desperation. Jessica's lips trembled as she whispered, "No… no… we're finished…"
Ariel fell back onto the floor, too terrified to stand. Nina's beautiful eyes widened, her entire body shaking. For the first time in her life, the Swan Princess felt true helplessness.
The P1 let out a guttural roar that shook the walls. With terrifying power, it stepped inside, its massive frame filling the small room. The stench of death rolled off its body, choking them.
"Join together!" Daisy screamed, forcing her trembling body to stand. "Block it! Ethan will come—he has to come!"
Snatching up the metal pail again, she hurled it at the monster with every ounce of her strength. The clang echoed like a war drum.
The P1 barely flinched. Its grotesque grin widened.
Death had entered the room.
The metal pail crashed against the P1 zombie's chest with a hollow clang—yet the monster didn't even flinch. The impact was like striking a wall of stone.
Fear clamped down on the girls' throats.
Jessica and Nina, desperate, grabbed anything within reach—shampoo bottles, half-empty soap containers, even a broken mirror shard—and hurled them at the hulking creature. The bottles bounced harmlessly off its rotting flesh. The mirror shard left only a shallow scratch that oozed black, tar-like blood, which only seemed to enrage the beast further.
With a guttural roar, the P1 lunged. Its massive hand clamped around Ariel's fragile body, lifting her as though she were a doll. Before the others could react, its jagged teeth sank into her neck.
CRUNCH.
Blood sprayed like a fountain, painting the walls and floor. Ariel's scream was cut short, replaced by a gurgling choke. Her wide, pain-filled eyes locked with her friends as her body convulsed in the monster's grip.
"No! Ariel!" Jessica's shriek ripped from her throat, tears streaming down her face.
Daisy's voice cracked with desperation.
"Jump out! Better to die falling than be eaten alive!"
Her words pierced the other two girls, but when Jessica and Nina glanced at the fourth-floor drop, their legs froze. The thought of shattered bones and certain death held them in place. Their trembling hands gripped the window ledge, but they couldn't let go.
The P1 tore another chunk of flesh from Ariel's throat, chewing noisily. The sound was wet, sickening. Then it dropped her lifeless body like discarded trash and turned its glowing, hate-filled eyes on the remaining three. Blood dripped from its mouth as it grinned, stepping forward with deliberate menace.
The girls backed against the wall, trembling, eyes brimming with despair.
Then—
A flash of steel. A blur of motion.
The dormitory door exploded inward, and Ethan stormed in like a thunderclap. His boots slid across the blood-slick floor, his sword already in motion. His speed was unreal—faster than the eye could follow.
The P1 roared, swinging its massive arm like a hammer, but Ethan ducked low, moving with the grace of a predator. His blade flashed—
SHHHK!
In a single, lightning-fast stroke, the sword cleaved through muscle, sinew, and bone. The P1's head spun into the air, black blood spraying across the walls like a grisly fountain. Its body twitched, staggered forward two steps, and then collapsed with a deafening thud, shaking the floor.
For a moment, silence.
The girls stared in disbelief, their hearts pounding. Ethan stood in the middle of the room, his chest rising and falling, fresh blood dripping down his sword. His sharp eyes swept the room, scanning for threats. In that instant—splattered in gore, his sword still humming with momentum—he looked less like a student and more like a battle-hardened warrior.
The three survivors felt their hearts pound for a different reason. Despite the blood and violence, Ethan appeared striking—his messy dark hair sticking to his forehead, his eyes sharp and unyielding, his movements precise and commanding.
"Come with me!" His voice cut through the silence like steel.
Without hesitation, he scooped up the glowing Survival Coins that shimmered near the P1's corpse, along with three white treasure boxes that materialized in its wake. He didn't even pause to inspect them, simply tucked them away with practiced speed. Ethan had no time for greed—the mission was survival.
The girls scrambled after him, their fear shifting into fragile hope. Nina opened her mouth, wanting to speak—to thank him, to cling to him—but Ethan didn't look at her. His focus was unbreakable, every nerve on edge, every step calculated.
The hallway outside was a nightmare. Corpses of headless zombies littered the floor, black blood smeared across the walls in grotesque streaks. Severed heads rolled in the shadows, their jaws still snapping uselessly. The stench was overwhelming, so thick it made the girls gag.
Jessica covered her mouth with trembling hands. Nina nearly vomited. Even Daisy, strong as she was, felt her knees weaken.
Ethan's voice snapped them back.
"Keep moving. Don't look. If you stare too long, you'll freeze."
Nina's voice trembled, raw with panic.
"W-wait! Slow down! Please! We can't—"
"Keep up!" Ethan barked, his tone sharp, brooking no argument.
The sound of his command silenced her instantly. Tears welled in Nina's eyes, streaming down her flushed cheeks. All her life she had been admired, worshiped, treated like a princess. No one had ever scolded her, not once. The sting of Ethan's harshness cut deep, but at the same time, it lit something strange inside her—a desperate, overwhelming need to cling to him.
At that moment, Daisy hurried forward, her breath ragged. "Ethan… do you remember me?"
Ethan glanced at her, his brow furrowed as he jogged. Then, recognition flickered across his face as if juggling his memories. Despite the blood, he managed a small, fleeting smile. "Of course, Daisy. You introduced me to that tutoring job. If it weren't for you, college life would've been… much harder."
The memory was like sunlight cutting through the darkness. Daisy felt warmth spread through her chest, her eyes glistening. She managed a small smile despite the horror around them.
"No… it was your own skill. If you hadn't won over that little witch Julia, my help wouldn't have mattered."
Ethan reached into his backpack without breaking stride. He pulled out a sweet bun wrapped in plastic and pressed it into her hand.
"You haven't eaten all day. Eat. Even a little strength matters now."
Daisy stared at the bun, her stomach growling painfully. Before she could speak, Nina and Jessica's wide, hungry eyes fell on it. Their lips parted, their faces flushing with both shame and longing.
Daisy hesitated, glancing at Ethan.
Without a word, Ethan sighed and opened his pack again. He withdrew two small pieces of bread—his emergency rations—and handed them to Nina and Jessica. His voice softened slightly. "Eat these. Once we get back to base, there'll be real food waiting."
The girls accepted the bread with trembling hands, their eyes misting over. Even though his words were blunt, they carried a quiet reassurance, like an anchor in the storm.
What they didn't know was that Ethan's emergency supplies were meant to last him at least a week in isolation. Giving them away now could one day cost him his own life. But he didn't hesitate—not when survival meant keeping their hope alive.
The three girls clutched the food like treasure, whispering softly, "Thank you… thank you, Ethan…"
Ethan only nodded, his sword still in his hand, eyes scanning the darkness ahead.
The unfairness in Nina's heart gnawed at her as she chewed on the dry piece of bread. 'In his mind… am I not even as important as Daisy?' She thought bitterly, her pride wounded. Nina had always been treated like a goddess at the university—long black hair that gleamed like silk, flawless pale skin, curves that made men's eyes follow her in secret. Compared to her, Daisy was plain, ordinary. Yet Ethan had given Daisy more attention, more warmth. That injustice made Nina's teeth clench, though she swallowed her resentment quietly.
In the girl's dormitory, Ethan's relentless search had brought more than just three survivors. Room by room, he had kicked down doors, braved the stench of rotting corpses, and ignored the grasping claws of the undead. By the time he was done, nine more terrified girls had been pulled from behind barricaded doors and broken furniture.
Twelve survivors in total. Twelve fragile threads of life in a dormitory that once housed hundreds. The rest were gone—devoured screaming, or turned into those soulless things that still wandered the halls.
The weight of their deaths pressed on everyone, but Ethan had no time to mourn. He herded the group back to the school bus like a wolfdog guarding his flock. His sharp eyes swept the shadows constantly, one hand gripping his bloodstained sword, the other resting on the strap of his rifle slung across his back.
Once everyone was aboard, he barked his next order: "Luna. Drive us to the General Office building."
Luna didn't ask why. She knew better by now. Since the incident with the biker gang, her position in Ethan's eyes had fallen dangerously low. She wasn't about to risk it further with pointless questions. She simply gripped the wheel tighter, her knuckles pale, and obeyed.
The bus rumbled through broken streets, weaving past abandoned cars and shattered glass. The air outside was heavy with the stench of blood and rot. Miraculously, there weren't many zombies near the Office building—at least not yet.
The moment the bus came to a halt, Ethan was already out, moving with predatory speed. He sprinted to the Accounting Office door, his boots splashing in a puddle of blackened blood. The door was shut tight, no sound inside.
Ethan cupped his hands and shouted:
"It's Ethan! Zhao—are you still alive?"
For a moment, silence. Then a trembling voice from within: "I'm here!"
The door opened, and Zhao stumbled out, his face pale but alight with surprise. Relief softened his features when he saw Ethan standing there, bloody blade in hand but alive, solid, dependable.
"You really came back," Zhao said, his voice cracking with gratitude. "I thought… I thought we were finished."
"Less talking. Move." Ethan's voice was calm, but it carried steel.
Zhao didn't waste time. He quickly signaled his group—five more survivors who looked gaunt, hollow-eyed, but alive. They scrambled after him toward the bus.
Back on board, Luna glanced at Ethan through the rearview mirror. "Heading back now?" she asked cautiously.
Ethan shook his head, his gaze sharp as he scanned the street. "No. Take us to the small supermarket at the intersection. We need supplies."
The bus growled forward again, its engine echoing through the deserted city. And as expected, the sound drew them—dozens of zombies, shambling from alleyways and broken shops, dragging their torn limbs across the pavement toward the noise.
When the bus stopped outside the supermarket, the dead were already closing in.
Zhao's breath quickened as he stared out the window. "There must be fifty of them… Do we really need to stop here? Ethan, this is madness!"
Lucas, the bespectacled coward, immediately added his whining voice: "He's right! We can find food later—why risk it now? We'll be torn apart! Luna, step on it! Get us out of here!"
But Luna's hands stayed firm on the wheel. She didn't even look at Lucas. Her eyes flicked only to Ethan, waiting for his decision.
Ethan's lips curled into a cold half-smile. "Open the door."
The hiss of the bus door sliding open seemed to echo louder than gunfire. Ethan's gaze snapped to Spawn, his undead companion who stood silently by like a statue of death.
"Take care of them," Ethan commanded.
Spawn obeyed without hesitation. It leapt from the bus with terrifying speed, charging straight into the horde. Its Axe tore through flesh like paper, ripping heads from shoulders, black blood spraying across the cracked asphalt. The girls on the bus gasped, some turning pale at the sheer brutality, others unable to look away.
Ethan turned to the survivors. His eyes were like sharpened blades as he barked, "Everyone except Luna, Grace, and Julia—get off and haul supplies. Now."
William, ever pragmatic, didn't hesitate. He grabbed his knife, leapt down from the bus, and ran toward the supermarket entrance. He knew Ethan's words were law. Hesitation meant uselessness, and useless people didn't survive long.
The others hesitated. Fear paralyzed them as they stared at the street littered with twitching zombie remains. None dared to move.
Ethan's jaw tightened. His patience snapped. He pointed at Daisy specifically and said, his voice cold as winter steel: "You don't have to carry supplies. But hear me—anyone who doesn't help doesn't eat. And from today on, you find your own food."
His words were like a guillotine. The survivors paled, some looking away in shame, others trembling.
Zhang, one of Zhao's group, broke the silence first. He straightened his back and barked, "Come on! Lucas, Mia—move! If you want to live, work for it."
That broke the dam. Daisy was the first girl off the bus, sprinting toward the supermarket with nervous energy.
Nina followed, her pouty lips curled in resentment. She couldn't bear the thought of Daisy looking braver than her in front of Ethan. She tossed her hair, squared her shoulders, and ran after her, though her heart quivered.
Zhao rallied his five with a desperate shout: "Together! Don't shame yourselves—move the damn supplies! If we don't act like one rope, twisted strong, we'll all die frayed!"
And so, one by one, they spilled off the bus into the bloody street, their beauty and fragility thrown against the ruin of the world. Some still trembled, others clenched their jaws. Hunger, fear, and Ethan's cold authority drove them all.
The supermarket doors loomed ahead—dark, silent, and dangerous. And the dead kept coming.